


Cor et Mentem

by sniperi



Series: In which I write all the scenes I don't WANT to write because I wanted to watch them in KH III [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Game: Kingdom Hearts III, Gen, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 14:24:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17768477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sniperi/pseuds/sniperi
Summary: (KH III SPOILERS)A different take on the scene with Vanitas in the Keyblade Graveyard, now with approximately 1.5 times the emotion, dialogue, and plot ass-pulls (so about as much as one would have expected to get from the actual game).





	Cor et Mentem

**Author's Note:**

> So, okay, wow. It's been literally years since I've written anything, but I had some serious feelings about some of the Kingdom Hearts III end game scenes. Some were really great, some weren't enough, and they kiiiiind of shouldn't have been stacked all on top of each other like that...
> 
> Complaints aside, I was compelled to rewrite this scene in my down time at work as an act of self indulgence, but now I feel the need to share. I think a lot more could have been done with Vanitas, and while his final scene in-game did carry a little weight, I think it could've been turned up to 11 considering dramatic emotions are what Kingdom Hearts is known for. Hope someone else can enjoy it, too! Please do feel free to tell me what you think. My writing is rusty and I'd like to improve it moving forward. The amount of times I found myself switching tenses and had to go back and fix it was TOO MUCH

Even with legitimate war looming on the horizon, even with no time to waste...even still, everyone deserved a chance to say their final peace. Sora took his place beside Ventus, keyblade still at the ready on the chance this was a feint, but the boy in black made no further move to attack. Instead he let his own keyblade clatter to the dry, dusty ground of the wasteland they stood on and reached up to remove his helmet. He dropped it unceremoniously at his feet, the cracks that had spread across the glass faceplate finally winning out and shattering it. Sora's eyes were drawn to it momentarily, and when he glanced back up he faltered, confusion painting his features. It seemed to amuse Vanitas, who let out a sharp laugh before gesturing to his own face, a near mirror image of Sora's.

"Are you that surprised? I'm the piece of Ventus that was taken away, and you're the piece he needed to become whole again. Is it really any wonder that we'd look alike?"

'Alike' was the right word - the face and hairstyle were the same, even the build of his body, and yet the colors were off just enough to make everything eerily uncanny. His hair was as inky black as the shadows he slunk around in, looked sickly against his too-pale skin in contrast to Sora's warm brown spikes and island tan. His eyes - that familiar amber that had come to be associated with those that gave in to darkness, let it consume them. Sora's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to find the words to respond; Ventus remained silent at his side, expression unreadable.

"If you're a part of Ven," he began slowly, as if he was reasoning out his own logic as he went along, "then why are you standing against us? Why are you still on Xehanort's side? It's not too late, you still have a choice."

There was a twitch of Vanitas's eyebrow and a smile _so close_ to one Sora has seen in the mirror before, but this one was tinged with mockery. "I've always had a choice, and I made it when I was created. Darkness is what I am. It's what I want." He stepped closer, aiming for intimidation but remaining unperturbed when the other stood his ground. "How dense can you be? Are you actually thinking you can save me? Turn me into one of your pathetic friends? Time to start facing reality, stupid. You beat me. I'm already fading away, and I don't have a heart to save."

Sora jerked out of his subdued stupor in an instant, ever ready to come to the defense of another, tears already welling up in his eyes. "You do have a heart! You're a person just like we are!" Before Vanitas can even think to react, Sora's keyblade has vanished in a flash of light and he's being wrapped in a tight embrace. Sora's voice is quiet when he continues. "Of course darkness is what you want...Xehanort convinced you that's all you are. He never showed you anything else. I'm sorry, Vanitas."

"You," anger is palpable in Vanitas's voice, but so is something more vulnerable. Panic, maybe. Unease. "Shut the hell up. Get off me." He started to pull away, but the effort wasn't there. He was weakening, it was hard enough to keep himself standing, and this was...new. Unknown. When had anyone held him like this? Had anyone ever reached out toward him without intent to harm?

Sora cut through Vanitas's mental war with himself when he continued, voice still soft and full of emotion. "I'm sorry no one was there to help you. I'm sorry Xehanort convinced you you didn't need it. And- and I'm sorry you've been alone for so long. If you really have to go, I'll stay with you until it's over."

Darkness was flowing off of him by then, thin tendrils of it that curled up into the air before dissipating, signaling his impending end. "Stop it," he hissed, but his voice was trembling just as much as his hands as he brought them up to clutch Sora's jacket, and he was no longer certain if he was speaking to Sora or pleading with his own existence.

Ventus finally chose that time to speak up, and his touch was a warm, grounding weight when he placed his hand on Vanitas's back. "If someone's memory is kept alive in people's hearts, they never truly disappear from the world. For twelve years, Sora held me in his heart and kept me safe, even when he didn't know it." Vanitas stared in disbelief over Sora's shoulder where his chin had come to rest, struck dumb while Ventus spoke. "You won't disappear. We'll keep you right here, until we find out how to help you," he finished, placing his free hand over his chest while Sora emphatically nodded his agreement and squeezed Vanitas ever tighter.

"Keep me in your hearts," he echoed numbly. "Why would you? Why would you want to?"

"To save you," Sora interjected before Ventus spoke up again. "I forgave you a long time ago for what you put me and my friends through. When I realized Xehanort was using you as a puppet, just like he wanted to do to me - it didn't excuse the things you did, but it changed things. He brought you into existence and filled your head with his poison and lies. So right now, here's your second chance to decide the person you really are. A rebirth. But if you want our help, you have to _say_ so. Before it's too late."

Vanitas was at a loss. His eyes stung, his shoulders shook, his chest ached so badly, and if this was a taste what having a heart felt like, he wasn't sure if he _did_ want it. But slowly, tentatively, he lifted his head to look Sora in the eyes. His expression was hopeful, almost pleading, eyes brimming with tears and lower lip quivering, all for the love of someone he had never even met before all of Xehanort's conflicts started coming to a head. Vanitas took a ragged breath. "Please," he began hesitantly, dragging his gaze over to the eyes he was much more reluctant to meet. Ventus, who had nearly lost himself when Vanitas was dragged out of him. Ventus, who he had endlessly tormented, mocked, attacked, who was so much _more_ than him despite it all. "Help me," he finished, feeling smaller than he ever had in the face of all that he didn't understand. How strong was a heart that it allowed someone like Ventus to offer up a smile at him? Him, of all things?

"You'll be okay."

Those were the last words he comprehended before his form shattered and he was nothing more than a thought, a feeling, an impulse - nestled between Ventus and Sora's hearts safe and so impossibly warm.

Sora sniffed, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his arm. "I'll save every single person who's hurting because of Xehanort. All of them."

"Not I," Ventus corrected. "We. Everyone whose heart yours has touched will be standing beside you all the way.”

That brought Sora’s million watt smile back to life in an instant, determination glimmering in his eyes. “Right! We need to keep moving, everyone else is still fighting out there. Which way?”

“I’m going to find Aqua. You should keep going, we’ll be alright together.”

With a decisive nod from both of them, they split ways hurriedly, each placing a hand over their hearts in a silent promise.

“We’ll fix this mess.”

**Author's Note:**

> ...I legitimately started this with no intention of saving Vanitas, just injecting more emotion and depth into the scene. But apparently my mind works way too much like Sora's: SAVE EVERYONE.


End file.
